Just think, you’ll be doing your bit to support the NHS. Anyway, the increases shown are per 4.5l, you unless you’re drinking huge amounts you’ll hardly notice.
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@HungryHalibut yes sorry I work in 6 x 75cl so it is £0.45 on 75cl of wine below 15%, sherry below 20% £0.98 and then the big one for us Port £1.31 on 75cl bottle of Port at 20%
Please excuse me, I forgot that you worked in the trade, and it explains the quantities. Yes, it gives a dilemma on Port, reduce margins or pass it on and potentially reduce sales.
People in those places are obviously very shallow.
If one feels the need for one to appear to have a refined taste, that’s fine, go for it, it doesn’t do anybody any harm.
I don’t drink beer, but I don’t mind if other people do.
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I heard about this a few years ago, City Culture, end of year bonuses , book several restaurants and decide which one to go.
The restaurants started speaking to each other and discovering the pattern. I booked a table at Rules on Christmas , they then made several calls to me (kept missing) to check all was ok.
I think it’s disgusting and selfish behaviour
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correct and subject of a big heaten discussion. Majority of restaurants and bars seems to feel bad giving tap water for free and it’s not at all part of the table culture.
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It became a bit of a thing at every level of restaurant from the local pizzeria to the destination ones where the bill is over £100 a head. They’ve all started taking a deposit or card details. They’ve scheduled the staff, bought the produce and the loss of income was significant.
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It should be the norm to take a card on booking. Then if you get a no show take £50 off it.
Hopefully stop no shows.
A very good and not cheap Restruarant in Sheffield had a no show of a party of 6 on news years eve one year.
That’s disgraceful.
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Getting back on topic…
4-5x retail pricing for a bottle of wine seems excessive to me. I’ve done the “check the wine list” thing for a restaurant once and never again. I suspect it’s mostly 3-4x retail price in UK which I’m fine with.
Tipping is a minefield. I can’t say I have ever felt I’ve tipped correctly anywhere but I have always tried to tip what I think is expected and have tended to err on the side of generosity. In the UK, I don’t tip if service charge is already added. I try not to tip in France as service is usually “compris”, explicitly or implicitly. I loved the US restaurants that offered a range of tips on the “check” to help us confused tourists as someone mentioned further up.
Off topic…
Tap water always in UK, most of Europe, US, etc. Best restaurants provide free carbonated water. When I say best, I mean they are the best because they provide free carbonated water; presumably tap water put through a soda stream like we do at home. Tightness has absolutely nothing to do with wanting to drink tap water, as one person suggested (bizarre).
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+1
I just paid $9 for a glass of house Chardonnay which isn’t that bad and when you consider the cost of others beverages on the menu it’s not bad value imo.
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Never had a problem with the idea of house wine , though it seems some time since I went to a variety of restaurants.
If a restaurant puts it’s name to a wine 
then it should be a good reflection of its standards
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Ian if you’re ever in Aus we’re doing a wine tour
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I tried the ‘ask for recommendations’ thing last night - was are now in France - saying we wanted to try something different. We were recommended two wines, one at €37 and one at €64. Both looked lovely and we went for the former. I was impressed that they weren’t both expensive recommendations. I subsequently looked the wine up, solely for this thread, and you can buy it for about €13. The restaurant will obviously pay less than this, so the markup is about 3.5X, or 250%. Whatever, it was delicious and I was quite ok with paying the asking price.
And as a tightwad I was very pleased to get tap water for free, delicious bread with every course, and service included, no need for a tip!!
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When in a country like France where consuming wine is more normal than water, I’ve generally just gone for the house wine, and never been disappointed despite the usually very low price - indeed sometimes it has been amazingly good. Once upon a time drinking tap water in such place would have been a risky thing to do (hence their drinking wine as if it were water!), but not the case in recent decades, and nowadays I don’t think twice.
A few years ago in Rome we hired a guide, who proved to be excellent. It was a swelteringly hot day, and the guide offered a very useful titbit: not to buy bottled water from the many touts on the streeet, but to refil our bottles from the frequent drinking water fountains to be found everywhere in the street. (The touts were likely selling tap water anyway!) Before then I had been unaware of the existence of the fountains - which I have since learnt are all over italy, and France, too. I understand they are coming back in Britain as well (they existed when I was a kid). Greatnews.
And on the subject of tips, if guides go over and above expectations I tip, particularly where the guide is provided by a large organisation, but not otherwise, after all, I have bought a specific service which they have delivered, and I would expect that to be efficient and professional.
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We carry steel water bottles and always use fountains or ask in bars to fill them up. We have a 5L camping bottle in the car, ready for our final 300 miles to Collioure. That way, we buy no plastic, scourge of the world.
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Hi Pete
When I do the Ghan … I am quite sure that Langmeil will not be selling wine by the can (It’s a disgusting thought)
Then it’s Sydney Opera House and er the BBL
best wishes
Ian
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And cold beer in a glass. 
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The Ghan is a very good place to be for wine lovers. We were in the restaurant until the staff went to bed and left us with the wine bar still open . The only slight difficulty was the wake-up call at 6am for the sunrise stop.
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Yes, I thought the beers in De Hems were really good and as of Bertie …